Twilight fans campaign to donate to help save brick building of Forks High School

Twilight fans take turns photographing each other in front of the entrance to the old Forks High School brick building during a Forks Chamber of Commerce Twilight tour earlier this year. Portions of the high school, which was built in 1925, have been vacated because they dont come up to building code requirements. The school has been a popular site for Twilight fans to visit, and tours of the old building will be conducted today during Stephenie Meyer Day. -- Photo by Lonnie Archibald/for Peninsula Daily News

FORKS  Fans of the Twilight series of best-selling books wants to save the place where Bella and Edward met  Forks High School.

Twilight Lexicon  one of many groups of fans of Stephenie Meyer's four-novel series about teen love, vampires and werewolves set in Forks  is asking fellow fans to donate to the preservation of the aging Forks High School on their Web site, www.twilightlexicon.com.

Isabella Swan is the mortal love interest of vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight series.

Since both characters are high school students, the Forks High School figures in several scenes in the books.

Parts of the 1925 building have been condemned for use and are no longer open for classes.

A bond measure to replace the school building is on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Lori Joffs and Laura Byrne-Cristiano, owners and administrators of the Web site have teamed up with Infinite Jewelry Co.  which makes Bella's Bracelet and Bella's Engagement Ring  and the West Olympic Peninsula Betterment Association to form Twilighters for Forks to ask for donations for the school.

"Just imagine what even $2 from every fan would do," Twilight Lexicon fans wrote on the site's news blog.

Bella's birthday
The appeal was launched this week in honor of Bella's birthday, which will be celebrated in Forks today (Saturday -- click on story below).

Although the comment section yielded mixed feelings about donating to the town, a few had already donated to the cause by Thursday.

"We all knew that if the Twilight fans understood what was happening in Forks, they would want to help out, too," Joffs said.

"I'm extremely excited about this," said Don Grafstrom, president of West Olympic Betterment Association, who has helped organize the fans' efforts.

"I've been working on this for month and these people are just really excited about giving back to the community."

Grafstrom said that the nonprofit West Olympic Betterment Association was pleased to be the organization accepting funds.

He also said that although the organization would do its best to see that donations help save the brick facade of the high school, there is no guarantee.

"We don't own the building, so we can't control that," he said.

Quillayute Valley School District Superintendent Diana Reaume did not return calls for comment, but she has said that the School Board also desires to save either the building or facade in some way.

The books in Meyer's series have consistently stayed at the top of USA Today's best-seller list since the release of New Moon, the second in the series.

Twilight, the first in the series, is number one on the most recent list, which is based on sales through Sept. 7.

New Moon is second on the list, while Breaking Dawn, the concluding volume, is third. Eclipse is fifth.

"Twilight," the movie, will be released on Nov. 21

Donations to Twilighters For Forks can be mailed to P.O. Box 2431, Forks WA 98331, or made through the Twilight Lexicon site.